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Jennifer HerronJennifer Herron is the owner of Action Engineering, a company that specializes in the promotion, process development, and standardization of a 3D CAD Model-Based Environment. Her career has been spent creating and building complex hardware systems for the aerospace and defense industry, her experience runs the gamut from flight hardware mechanisms to spacecraft layout and configuration. She is an expert in multiple CAD packages, which she uses along with her practical design experience to hone standards and processes that optimize the ROI of all CAD systems. In addition to her involvement developing many flight satellite systems, Jennifer has designed military robot platforms, holds a patent for a snake propulsion mechanism, has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and a Masters of Science in Computer Engineering. « Less

Jennifer HerronJennifer Herron is the owner of Action Engineering, a company that specializes in the promotion, process development, and standardization of a 3D CAD Model-Based Environment. Her career has been spent creating and building complex hardware systems for the aerospace and defense industry, her … More »

Do you need to educate CAD Designers, Checkers, CAD/PLM Administrators, CAD Super-users and their Managers on how to create 3D models that are used downstream for direct manufacture, technical publications and customer deliverables. Using CAD best practice and modeling rules from relevant MBD and MBE standards, this straightforward handbook will move your organization forward into using, re-using and reaping the benefits of CAD.

Provides CAD format agnostic techniques, while still creating in Native CAD, for compliance with ASME Y14.41 and MIL-STD-31000A.

Having used Anark’s Core product to publish MBD data sets into 3D PDFs, I have to admit that after careful setup, it is a nice “push-button” publishing solution. Integrating with PDM/PLM systems certainly fills in a few more pieces of the MBE puzzle.

Take a look at the assembly capability and the associative parts list using SolidWorks and Anark Core to generate the 3D PDF data set for landing gear.

MIL-STD-31000A is released, but now the creators are focused on pushing out the message of MBE. Vendors are developing great presentations that circulate around how their software products support MBE. And now, the original Model-Based Enterprise creators, have put together a slick new website. This information is all software tool agnostic.

New website launched to increase understanding and compliance with MBE standards.

Generally, you create your model using a Native CAD software tool (SolidWorks, Inventor, NX, Catia, Creo). You may have the challenge that in order to share your data with a customer or manufacturer you must convert it into a “neutral” format.

What method do you use?

A neutral CAD format is informally known as a digital file format that is readily viewable on a variety of computer desk and mobile platforms without spending a large sum of money. A cost of “free” makes it even more “neutral” — as in the case with Adobe Reader.

Additive manufacturing (3D printing) is game changing technology to not only manufacturing, but also to design. However, it must be backed by product definition methods that support this unique manufacturing method.

I hadn’t hear this term before — Design-Driven Manufacturing —

I have not decided if the term is catchy enough to evoke the correct concept, but it does describe a concept that I have been discussing for years, which is that the advent of 3D printing prototyping (and now the capability to directly manufacture products) has allowed us, designers, to print our thoughts.

Neutral CAD files are great, but remember the source of that neutral file.

The most common and ubiquitous file format used to communicate product design and manufacturing requirements is to generate a 2D pdf from the native CAD drawing. Consider that this communication method generates a digital file that is a neutral derivative of the 2D Native CAD drawing, which is a derivative of the 3D CAD model.

Derivative: Data duplicated or extracted from the original. A copy of a derivative is also a derivative. (ASME Y14.41 (R2012), 3.11)

A “neutral” 2D PDF drawing is actually a 2nd derivative of the Native CAD model.

Most likely your organization is already using some form of neutral files already, what makes it more interesting and data rich, is adding in the third dimension to your product definition.

3D CAD and model-based ideas are fostered by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology).

Let’s start with defining a “Neutral CAD File”. A neutral CAD file is a CAD format, generally governed by a commercial, government or international standard and is “open source”. Many can write it, and many can read it. It is not a CAD specific, proprietary format.

Now, also bear in mind, that a Neutral CAD File, is generally a derivative of the Native CAD format. Meaning it is a copy of the original file. Consider how that derivative file is used downstream in the product development lifecycle, and what relationship, if any, it has back to the originating source data.

This is where I make YOU work. Which is the master? Do you have a feedback loop to the source design data? Do you need to feedback to the source data?

Is model-based design a set of standards and processes that stymie creativity and jail engineers Inside the Box? Or does it create a foundation for product design, freeing engineers from the mundane, while gifting them with technology to create products that will push Outside the Box?

The Answer! MBD Standards bolster engineering innovation

If it’s possible to make Harry Potter into Darth Vader using a very prescriptive set of interfaces (LEGO studs and tubes[i]), then setting up interface organization for complicated large systems to fit together should not limit the designer’s creativity.

Harry Potter morphs into Darth Potter using only common interfaces.

A properly implemented Model-Based Environment (MBE) provides foundational methods and organization to allow users to function together… and ‘snap’ together their parts. It is the manager’s responsibility to inspire users to comply with the standard, so that the parts integrate together as easily as LEGOs do. Read the rest of Model-Based Design (MBD): Outside or Inside the Box?